The James Bond references in Spectre - part 2

In Spectre, the previous Bond films are referenced in more or less conspicuous ways. The references to the first eight films were covered in a previous post and below I list the references to the next eight films: The Man With the Golden Gun trough Licence to Kill.

The Man With the Golden Gun
In the finale of Spectre, Blofeld has decorated the abandoned Mi6 building with pictures of people from Bond's past, such as Vesper, M and the villains Le Chiffre, Silva and Mr White. Blofeld lures Bond through the corridors of Mi6 and tricks him to shoot at flipping targets, similar to how Nick-Nack and Scaramanga lures Bond through Scaramanga's fun house in The Man With the Golden Gun.

The Man With the Golden Gun, 1974

Even the pattern of the dynamite wires that are covering the ceiling of the entire Mi6 building is slightly reminiscent of the interior design in Scaramanga's fun house. This of course might be a coincidence.

The dynamite wires stretched across Mi6 before the demolition

Scaramanga's fun house in 1974

However, the helicopter stunt from the pre-title sequence in Spectre resembles the famous car stunt from The Man With the Golden Gun, although this roll stunt has never been done with a helicopter in a Bond film before. 

The Spy Who Loved Me
Spectre references The Spy Who Loved Me during the plane/car chase in the Austrian alps. During the chase, Bond flies his plane alongside the car convoy and waves at Hinx travelling in the Range Rover with Madeleine Swan.

A similar scene occurs during the car chase in The Spy Who Loved me when Bond and Major Amasova are driving around in Sardinia. As Naomi chases Bond and agent triple X with a helicopter, she flies up alongside Bond's Lotus and at one point waves at him. Contrary to this film however, in Spectre, Bond is the one flying the aircraft and waves back at the henchman.

The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977

The big fight between Bond and Hinx aboard the Moroccan train could very well be a reference to the train fight between Bond and Donald Grant in From Russia With Love or the fight between Bond and TeeHee in Live and Let Die. But it might also be a reference to the fight between Bond and Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me. Some has suggested that the big barrels, which Bond kicks off the train and ultimately uses to throw Hinx off, might be a reference to the 1975 movie Jaws where big barrels are used to force the big shark up to the surface. Very far-fetched, but still funny.

The fight ends with Bond throwing Hinx off the train, by attaching him to some heavy barrels and kicking them overboard. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Jaws pretty much goes the same way, when Bond kicks him through the window.

Moonraker
The Dia de Muertos parade in Mexico city in the pre-title sequence of Spectre can be considered as an homage to the carnival in Rio, visited by Bond in Moonraker. It is of course also reminiscent of the Jankanoo parade in Thunderball and the Jazz funerals in Live and Let Die.

Mexico City 

Rio de Janeiro 1979

Blofeld's lair in the Moroccan desert is reminiscent of Drax's secret control room in Moonraker. 

During the car chase in Rome, Bond uses a new feature in his Aston Martin in order to escape from Hinx and not ending up in the river Tiber, namely an ejector seat with a parachute. Unlike the ejector seats installed in Bond's previous Aston Martins, this one is located in the driver seat. Bond ejects himself moments before the car crashes into the river and afterwords he lands on the adjacent street. Similarly during the boat chase in Moonraker Bond manages to escape from both Jaws and the largest waterfall in Brasil with a built-in para glider in Q's boat, before landing/crashing in the Brazilian jungle.

For Your Eyes Only 

In the pre-title sequence of both For Your Eyes Only and Spectre Bond is hanging outside of a helicopter, trying to get in control of the aircraft.

In addition, Blofeld's helicopters in both Spectre and For Your Eyes Only fly past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in a similar view.

Furthermore, another For Your Eyes Only reference is the name 'Hildebrand' that appears on the door to the Mi6 safe house in Spectre. Hildebrand is the cover name on a shop in London, selling "prints and rarities", but in reality functioning as a safe house. The title 'The Hildebrand Rarity' is a short story written by Ian Fleming that is included in the book 'For Your Eyes Only' which was published in 1960.

Octopussy
As far as I have made out, there are no obvious visual references to Octopussy (apart from the giant Octopus symbolising the organisation SPECTRE) but a few things from the plot can be considered as similar. For instance, the fathers of both Octopussy and Madeleine Swan kill themselves after a visit from 007.

Furthermore, Kamal Khan, just as several other villains before him, travels around in a Rolls Royce, which might be referenced through the fact that Blofeld also owns a Rolls, that picks up Bond from the desert.

Bond watches Kamal arrive in Octopussy

Bond and Swan arriving to Blofeld's lair in Spectre

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A View to a Kill

A View is one of the few films that has no obvious references. If anyone has found anything, please leave a comment below.

The Living Daylights
The fact that Bond visits Tangier in Spectre is a reference to The Living Daylights which also used Tangier as a location.

Tangier in 2015

Tangier in 1987

Furthermore, Bond's outfit in Spectre, a tan suede Jacket and a navy polo shirt is probably inspired by Bond's outfit from 1987, when he visited the city in the guise of Timothy Dalton. Dalton wore a beige blouson and chinos together with a dark blue knit shirt.

Licence to Kill

The reuse of locations from earlier films was also apparent in the pre-title sequence of Spectre when Bond and Estrella takes the elevator up to her hotel room, from where Bond later jumps out the window. This elevator was seen in Licence to Kill when it was located in Bond's hotel, 'Hotel El Presidente'. 

In Licence to Kill Bond and Pam takes the elevator up to Bond's suite where Q is waiting.

In the same film, Q is on vacation and turns up to assist Bond in the field. The same thing happens in Spectre when Q turns up at the Hoffler clinic in Austria.

James Bond Locations will return with the final references in Spectre. 

Mi6 Headquarters / Old war office, Whitehall - London

The last entry of 2011 will cover a genuine London location in honour of SkyFall, which will also be set in Whitehall for a few scenes. SkyFall will premiere in 2012 (26 oct), the 50th anniversary of the cinematic James Bond.


Octopussy

The first time 'the old war office building' at Whitehall was used as the exterior of Bond's office was in Octopussy 1983. In some of the earlier films, various pars of London had been used to symbolize Mi6, though Bond has never been seen entering his office in the series. In the background you can see Trafalgar square and Lord Nelson.

The building is neo-baroque and was finished in 1906. It is still in use by the Ministry of Defence and therefore not open to the public.






The old war office building is situated at Whitehall, right across from the Horse Guards and housed the war office between 1906 and 1964. The War office was a department of the British Government. It was responsible for the administration of the British army for over 400 years, from the 17th century until it was abolished in 1964. Its functions were then transferred to the Ministry of defence. 

A view to a kill

In A view to a kill we briefly see a changing of the guards before the camera turns over to M's office window. A mounted trooper from the Blues and Royals is seen marching off. These mounted troopers are part of The British Houshold Cavalry which is made up of two regiments of the British armed forces. 
These two regiments are the Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons, called the Blues and Royals. The regiments have traditions dating back from 1660 and acts as the Queen's personal bodyguard.




In the middle of the street, between the old war office building and the horse guards is a statue of the 2nd Duke of Cambridge who served as Commander-in-Cheif of the British army between 1856 to 1895.

The Blues and Royals were formed in 1969 from the merger of the Royal Horse Guards, which was known as the Blues, and the Royal Dragoons, known as The Royals. The Colonel-in-Chief is Her Majesty The Queen and the mounted troopers can still be seen outside the horse guards and opposite the old war office today.


Licence to Kill

The old war office seen for the last time - 1989

In The living daylights, the Malaysia house at Trafalgar square, was used as the exterior of Mi6, but Whitehall would then return in Dalton's second and last film Licence to kill. We only get a brief glimpse of the HQ and this is the last time 'The old war office' featured as Bond's office in the series. Six years later in GoldenEye and during the rest of the Brosnan era, the real Mi6 HQ at Vauxhall was used for the establishing shots of Bond's office. The real Mi6 Headquarters will be covered later.

You see less and less of the famous London doubledecker buses nowadays. Almost every bus have been retired and replaced with modern and more 'passenger safe' ones. But you can still see a few on some routes if you're lucky.


Mina vänner, Gott nytt år
Happy new year
and
Skål!